Policy advice: a practical perspective

Senior policy advisers face a number of basic practical issues that they must continuously negotiate if they are to successfully fulfil the policy advising function. Stemming from an Australian public sector experience, this paper offers an applied perspective on some of the more prominent of these issues: the question of political considerations in policy advising, the maintenance of good working relationships between policy advisers and ministers, the nature of timeliness, the extent of information needed before advice can be formulated, and the course to follow when policy advice is rejected. The paper seeks to arrive at some practical conclusions, not only for policy advisers already at the senior level, but also for those who are advancing their policy advising skills and find such issues material to their development.